Bonnie Buratti

The purpose of this study is to track seasonal changes in the planets and moons of the outer Solar System, conditions on Titan, Uranus, Neptune and Triton in particular. Titan, for example, develops temperate clouds and polar hoods over the course of Saturn's 29 year orbital period.

Buratti will use PHARO, a near-infrared imaging spectrometer, in combination with Palm-3000, the Observatory's adaptive optics system, to record climateological changes on these distant worlds. This is expected to be the most detailed examination since the Voyager 2 flybys of 1986 and 1989.

This sequence of images was obtained in 2006 using the adaptive optics system on the Hale Telescope. Here, the cloud patterns we see on Nepture demonstrate the viability of the type of ground-based meteorological study Buratti is undertaking. You can see Neptune's satellite Triton passby in several of the frames. (JPL/Caltech)